Happy Tuesday

Positive Quote Of The Day:

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

- Albert Einstein

As you can probably see, I have been changing things around. I haven't quite figured out a layout that I love yet so the changes will probably continue until I do.

Healthy You Challenge:

I joined the Healthy You Challenge last night. This is a community of bloggers who want to lose weight, get fit, and maintain a healthy life style. Members can share their ups, downs, and all-arounds throughout their journey to improve their health. At the beginning of my weight loss journey, I had 50lbs to shed to fit in to my wedding gown. As of right now I'm down to 43lbs left. Last Friday, I made a meal plan for the whole week. All of the meals are fairly healthy and homemade. This has kept us from eating out and it seems as though our waistlines and wallets are quite a bit happier.

Wedding Stuff:

I know I already have my dress but I found this dress by Jim Hjelm last night.

I know its a little hard to see the details but I LOVE this dress. If I didn't already have my dress and if I had the money I would totally snatch this dress up faster than you can imagine. Here is a link to a his website if you are interested in getting a better look. jlmcouture.com

Food:

Last night I made a healthy beef and veggie stew. It was really good and the best part is we will have leftovers for a few days.

The Picture isn't all that great but it was delicious.

I also made banana, raspberry, and blueberry bran muffins. As usual this is a recipe from annieseats.com and it was super simple and tasty. There is no sugar in these muffins and they are made with bran so they are really healthy.

This recipe is a winner and I will be making them often.

Last week I stumbled upon the website ziplist.com. This is a website where you can store your recipes and make your grocery list. You can click on your stored recipes and it will add all of the ingredients to a grocery list that is put in the order of the layout of your local store. I tried it out last week and it was so efficient and it cut my shopping time in half. Also, there is a feature where you can have your list sent to your mobile device. This site is pretty cool you should check it out. zip list

Job Stuff:

I'm really excited to go to work tomorrow. It will be the first day where we will actually be working instead of watching orientation videos. The very first shipment of stock will be arriving tomorrow morning and we will be able to make the store look like a real store instead of an empty warehouse. I'm really excited to see all of the product but, I'm even more excited to work with and get to know my fellow teammates.

Have A Happy Night

-Free

Fun and Smart Stuff

Positive Quote Of The Day:

"All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them"

- Mr. Walt Disney

School News:

This last week I have been super busy studying for midterm exams. The grades have been posted for two of my four exams and I managed to get A's on both. The third exam I was supposed to take got postponed because the teacher thought the exam would be to hard for us. I'm really quit irritated about this because the first exam we took in her class was so easy. The people that failed to actually read the instructions didn't do so well but that is their problem and not a problem with the exam. Spending a lot of time to prepare for this exam was a total waste of my time. So, I'm left waiting for my grades from my fourth exam.

In my positive psychology class, we have to give a presentation on some aspect of positive psychology for our final project. We were instructed that we had to make it personal to us. I have decided on my presentation topic and I'm so excited to start putting everything together. My topic is.... Learning Positive Psychology Through Lessons Taught By Disney. All Disney films have some sort of positive aspect so I will be sitting down in front of the tv and watching Disney movies over spring break. YAY!!!

Wedding News:

We ordered my wedding band about a week ago and the scheduled delivery date was yesterday. I stayed home all day waiting for the UPS man to come. Our house is a granny unit behind the main house and most delivery people can't figure out where our house is. This always ends up with one or both of us trying to track down the package and having to wait a few days to pick it up from the distribution center. I heard the UPS truck at 4:00pm and I booked it out side to catch him. When I opened the gate, my favorite UPS man from Blockbuster was standing there holding my package. It was great to see him and I was able to explain where our unit is. He said that he would make sure to drop off future packages to the right place.

ok on to the ring...
This is not the original ring we were going to go with. My engagement ring had a matching band to go with it but I found this ring and it is nicer than the matching one and quite a bit less expensive. You can't beat less expensive. This is what we went with...

If you look closely, the top row and the bottom row are separate pieces. I love this because I can have 5, 3, 2, or 1 depending on what I want to be wearing. I'm very happy with it except for the fact that I ordered it half a size too small. But that isn't a big deal.

Friend News:

Wednesday night my friend Robert called and asked if he could stay with us for a night on Thursday because he was passing through town on his way down to San Diego. So he got here around 9:15pm and we went out to dinner at Chili's. He slept on our tiny couch and Kinsey had to take the floor. She was not to happy about the arrangement. It was really nice to start off my spring break spending time with him.

Honeymoon News:

I was finally able to get all of our flight tickets for a really good deal. Spending hours watching the rates go up and down was not my idea of a good time but it was worth it. As of right now, it looks like we won't be able to book anything else until the first of August. That is when Disney puts out their 2011 rates. Besides Disney the only thing left to book are our shore excursions for the cruise. We looked through the current shore excursions and we have picked out two that we are interested in. I'm pretty sure we have to wait until August to book them but our travel agent will let us know when they become open for booking.

Food News:

Due to my crazy schedule this last week, I have not cooked anything. While I was waiting for the UPS man yesterday, I was watching The Martha Stewart Show and she had her personal financial guru on the show. They were talking about how much money you can save if you plan your menu for the week and make one trip the the grocery store. This cuts down time, gas, eating out, and impulse shopping. So yesterday I pulled out the weekly ad for Albertsons and clipped coupons as well as I was able to put together our menu using the items that are on sale for the week. Both of us are really excited that we don't have to sit and try to figure out what we want to eat and then make several trips to the store throughout the week. Our menu item for last night was Red Chile Chicken With Rice and Black Beans. I found the recipe on annieseats.com and as usual it was super simple to make. Both of us gave it two thumbs up.

This recipe was quick, simple, and healthy you just can't beat that!

For breakfast this morning I made cinnamon rolls. I made the dough and did all the prep-work after dinner last night. This morning all I had to do was pop them in the oven. I found the recipe on allrecipies.com and it was fairly simple but I want to use the recipe from annieseats.com and compare.

The whole house smells like cinnamon now and I love it!

From making the dough for the Cinnamon rolls I learned that I need to purchase a few tools before I make anything else that involves dough.




A pastry Brush

A timer

and most of all a rolling pin

These are things I don't think of needing until I'm in the middle of doing something. I think a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond is needed after we go to the dog park.

Have A Happy Day

-Free

Crazy Ideas And Goodies In The Mail

Quote Of The Day:

"If you believe in yourself, you are on the first step of success's stairs"

-Seema Bhatia

Look what came in the mail....

Yay!!! Both of us got our passports way before we expected to get them. Our cruise is in 29 days, Mexico here we come!

School News:

I'm doing really well in all five of my classes this semester. In two of my classes I haven't even opened the text books since they came in the mail. So when I got an email from school saying that it isn't to late to sign up for late start classes I came to the conclusion that I should add on another class for this semester. This will put me at 19 units which is nuts but I just want to get done with school as fast as possible. I figure it is only a month of hell and I can make it through a month. In preparation for adding on this class, I'm spending all weekend completing all of my big assignments for my current classes. The only part that sucks is the fact that it's so beautiful outside and I'm stuck inside instead of going to the beach with Kinsey.

Twilight News:

As you all know I'm a Twilight freak. Last night New Moon was released on DVD at midnight. Yes I was one of the many people waiting anxiously at Walmart in the middle of the night. I'm so glad I went but I couldn't wait until today to watch it so I'm exhausted today. It was way worth it. Go Team Jacob!

Wedding News:

The wedding plans have been at a stand still for quite awhile. We are waiting to hear back from our reception venue, ceremony venue, and the photographer. We did place our order with the bakery and we ordered our rings. Dan's ring came yesterday and we are both very happy with it. There was a lot of deliberation before we ordered it because Dan is always really rough on his hands. We were advised to go with tungsten for durability and most of the tungsten rings are pretty ugly. Once we came across this ring we were sold. Dan is really happy about the ring having a black design on it but a little less excited about how heavy it is. It weighs 18 grams! I'm glad I don't have to wear a ring that heavy. Well here it is...

Have A Happy Night

-Free

Sweat And Sweets

Positive Quote Of The Day:

"All great achievements require time"

- Maya Angelou

Let me start by saying, today was a long day. Moving is never fun but I'm glad that we went to help Dan's sister move. Vanessa and I got to spend alone time today while the boys were moving and the kids were at the new house. We never get to hang out so even though we were cleaning it was still fun. I was also able to spend a lot of time with my niece and nephews. Its always crazy to see how fast they grow in between visits. Last time I saw Cade he was barely crawling and today he was running and talking.

Cade and Kalie

Kalie is one smart kid! Today Grandma had given her a bunch of candy and a little while later she saw me eating a smores granola bar and wanted a piece. I explained to her that she had already had to much sugar and I wasn't about to give her any more. She looked at me and said, " So next time I see you, if I don't eat candy, you will share with me???" I just love kids as long as I can hand them back to their parents when I'm done.

In food news:

The island chicken that I was going to make last night didn't get put in the oven and the chicken went bad. I'll have to try doing it next Friday =( Tonight after a long day of moving I had no desire to cook dinner so we opted for a freezer pizza. So healthy... but while the pizza was in the oven, I decided to make coffeecake muffins. I got the recipe from some website and the recipe didn't make any sense. I ended up with a ton of the streusel left over and not enough batter. They did come out nice and Dan gave them the thumbs up though.

Now the house smells like cinnamon =)

Instead of a muffin I had this for dessert:

It looks like ice cream, it smells like ice cream, and tastes like ice cream, but it is NOT ice cream!Haha I figured out how to make 100% natural ice cream with no sugar or dairy added. Does anybody have a guess as to how I worked this miracle????

There only three ingredients in this bowl. Strawberry, vanilla, and banana. I froze the banana and put it in the food pro. with a little vanilla, put it in the bowl with strawberry as a garnish. Is is so yummy and knowing that I won't get sick or fat from eating it makes it taste even better!

In crafting news:

People love my purse that I made last night and everybody wants one. I wanted to make a quilt next but now that is on the back burrner. Next up is a purse for Dan's sister. She will be getting a bag the same style as mine but hers will be black with hot pink polka dots and a pink inside. After that I'm going to make a pirate tote bag to take on our cruise. Dan picked out the fabric and the pattern and it is going to be super cute. After that is a tote bag for my mom. I don't have fabric picked out yet but it will be super cute as well. With taking fifteen units this semester, it is going to take me forever to get these three projects done but I can't wait!

In wedding news:

Tomorrow afternoon Dan and I are going to meet with the owners of the restaurant where we will be having our reception. I almost feel bad for them because I have made a spreadsheet for the meeting. Yes I'm obsessed with Excel. Dan is really excited that he has the day off. Originally I was going to go and take care of it myself and he really wanted to be part of the menu selection process. After the restaurant, we are going to walk down to the bakery and order the coolest wedding cupcakes ever! I think I'll have to test the cupcakes one more time while we are there, just in case ;)

Have A Happy Night

-Free

Overview Of My New Blog

So far 2010 has gotten off to a great start! The next couple of years have so much to bring and I'm hoping that this blog will catalog all ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and the fun along the way.

Breakdown of 2010 Events:

1. Spring 2010 Semester- I started the semester earlier this month and I'm taking a huge load this semester. Over the next four months of the semester I'm sure I'll have moments of joy,anger, anxiety, laughter, and triumphant achievement. You can look forward to rants, raves, and stories of absolute ridiculousness.
2. Kinsey's First Birthday- This Sunday is my puppy's first birthday and Dan and I have a full day planned just for her.
3. Nick's Bachelor Party- One of my best friends is getting hitched to one of the most awesome chicks ever in April. For as long as I can remember Nick has looked down on "The M word". But he met that perfect girl for him and before he can say "I Do" we are throwing a bachelor party that will go down in history! I know girls at the bachelor party is a no no but as my guy friends like to put it... I'm not a girl, I'm just a guy with long hair.
4. Nick & Lisa's Wedding- This will surely be the best wedding I have ever been to. I'm super excited that they have decided that they want me in the wedding party. In the past I have dreaded being a bridesmaid but their wedding is super laid back (Hawaiian dress and sandals) and their is no way I could turn down this opportunity.
5. The Cruise After Party- A week after Nick and Lisa's wedding, some of us close friends are going to join them on a four day Baja Mexico cruise. It is going to be super fun and some people are going to lose liver function.
6. Summer Semester- I'll be nearing the home stretch and I'm predicting that there will be a lot of senioritis moments.
7. Fall Semester-I get to do a 400 hour internship. I'm hoping I can do my internship at San Luis Obispo Drug and Alcohol Services in the Department of Prevention.
8. Sunset Beach Camping Trip- My friend Robert has organized trips once or twice a year for quite awhile. The last few years busy schedules have gotten in the way of this fun event but Robert is back and I have a feeling that this will be the most fun trip we have ever had.
9. My Wedding!!!- Dan and I are going to get married October 15th 2010. We have a super super tight budget. I plan on blogging about DIY wedding stuff so it should be pretty fun. The only thing I'm dreading is dealing with my dress.
10. Christmas- In the last few weeks I have been bitten by the creativity bug. I'm planning on doing crafty projects for gifts this year so I hope you will get to laugh at me trying new things. I know I'm going to be pulling my hair out and laughing at myself a ton.
11. Our Honeymoon- On January 14th 2011 Dan and I will be leaving for our honeymoon. The first part of our honeymoon will be a Western Caribbean Cruise and then we will be hitting Disney World! The planning process should be interesting to say the least.

Other Topics You Will See In My Blog:

1. Cooking
2. Crafting
3. Positive Quotes
4. Diet & Exercise
5. Books
6. TV Shows
7. Rants & Raves

If you are reading this, Thanks for visiting!